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The richest men in Africa – 2008

The American business magazine Forbes has published its list of the world’s Billionaires and once again ClickAfrique takes a peek to see how Africa has fared. ....

Africa's richest men.

This year welcomes two new faces to the list of the richest men in Africa as well as one omission from last year. It will however be most memorable for début of the first black Africans to join the esteemed company on the list. Not surprisingly the two, Aliko Dangote and Patrice Motsepe are from Nigeria and South Africa the two countries on which most of the hope for African economic renaissance lies and they join at position 6 and 9 respectively.

They say the first million is the hardest so one would guess by the time you get to a billion it is positively child’s play to make money, and so it would seem as all the entrants from 2007 remain on the with most having increased their wealth despite torrid global economic conditions

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Here is how they pan out:

Patrice Motsepe (South Africa)African Rank No.9 – World Rank No.503 – Wealth $2.4 billion
It has been fourteen years since the end of Apartheid and Africa’s largest economy South Africa has finally produced its first black billionaire, Patrice Motsepe. The Pretoria raised lawyer was born into a relatively well off black family for the time, his father ABC Motsepe was one of the wealthiest black business men in the country. Motsepe specialised as a mining lawyer and this paved his way into the industry that was too make his fortune. His company African Rainbow Mineral is today one the largest mining concerns in South Africa. Motsepe is also the owner of one of South Africa’s most successful football clubs Mamelodi Sundowns FC

Samih Sawiris (Egypt) African Rank No.8 – World Rank No.396 – Wealth $2.9 billion
Samih Sawiris is the first of the four Sawiris family members we meet in this list. It has been a good year for Samih as his interests in tourism and leisure have seen his wealth rise from $1.6 billion to $2.9billion. Probably his most significant investment over the year was his commitment to invest $500 million in a luxury alpine resort in Andermatt, Switzerland his first venture outside the Middle East. The resort will comprise a 5-star hotel, apartment and villa, an ice rink all spread over 37 acres.

Aliko Dangote (Nigeria) African Rank No.7 – World Rank No.334 – Wealth $3.3 billion
Another débutante on the list and the first from Africa’s most populous nation. While the average man on the street in Nigeria would insist that the country has produced many billionaires’, mostly former heads of state and their cronies, Dangote represents a break from this tradition as a man who has created his wealth in a comparatively transparent manner. His interests in sugar,cement and food have propelled Dangote to the top of the pile in Nigeria. His close relationship with former Nigerian President Obasanjo some argue has fuelled his wealth and Obasanjo’s exit from power last year saw Dangote’s influence wane somewhat typified by the revocation of his purchase of former-state owned refineries by the new government.

Johann Rupert & family (South Africa) African Rank No.6 – World Rank No.284 – Wealth $3.8 billion
Johann Ruperts and family have seen their total wealth slip by about $500 million and drop three places down the list of Africa’s richest on the back of challenging global economic conditions and downturn in the luxury goods sector where his Richemont group is a major player. The tough economic conditions had not stopped rumours of Rupert looking to pay millions to purchase the English football team Blackburn Rovers, a deal Rupert has categorically denied.

Nicky Oppenheimer & family (South Africa) African Rank No.5 – World Rank No.173 – Wealth $5.7 billion
The Oppenheimer fortune is facing challenging times as investment pours into Russian extensive mineral resources fuelling competition, resource hungry representatives of China and India scour Africa looking to secure their supply lines and back home the Black Empowerment policy has meant changes in Anglo American Corporation the mining giant founded by the Oppenheimer family. Despite these challenges the family fortune has grown but not enough to keep their position in last year’s list as they drop three places to No’5.

Mohammed Al Amoudi (Ethiopia) African Rank No.4 – World Rank No.97 – Wealth $9.0 billion
Last year year’s list omitted Mohammed Al Amoudi but this year the Ethiopian born billionaire takes his rightful place. Al Amoudi migrated to Saudi Arabia from Ethiopia in 1965 and made his fortune in property before diversifying into petroleum interests. Al-Amoudi was one the biggest sponsors of celebrations earlier this year to mark the the start of the millennium in Ethiopia. The centre piece of his sponsorship was the construction of the multimillion dollar Millennium Central Hall in Addis Ababa.

Onsi Sawiris (Egypt) African Rank No.3 – World Rank No.96 – Wealth $9.1 billion
The list has already seen the first of the Sawiris family and the top three positions are all taken up by family members, the Sawiris father and his other two sons. Onsi Sawiris despite being in retirement and having divested most of the Orascom Empire he built to his three sons has seen his wealth almost double from $5 billion in 2007 to $9.2 billion today. Interestingly the combined Sawiris fortune of $34.7 billion would see the family at No.7 amongst the world’s richest.

Nassef Sawiris (Egypt) African Rank No.2 – World Rank No.68 – Wealth $11.0 billion
Of all those who made this list Nassef Sawiris has had the most spectacular rise in his wealth, last year his wealth was estimated at $3.9 billion but he starts this year with three times that fortune at $11 billion. Nassef Sawiris runs the construction arm of the Orascom empire and soaring oil prices have ensured his target market of the Middle East is awash with development funds. Orascom Construction signed some big deals last year including building a $1.8 billion fertiliser plant in Algeria, a $110 million Solar Plant in Egypt and part of a consortium building Cairo’s new metro.

Naguib Sawiris (Egypt) African Rank No.1 – World Rank No.60 – Wealth $12.7 billion
In gloomy world economy the growth of telecommunications, the internet and the media have been one of the few bright spots. In the emerging market it has been no difference and Naguib Sawiris has benefited tremendously from this. In particular the mobile telephony part of his empire has shown strong growth although not without controversy as investments in North Korea and investigations into the purchase of an Italian Teleco have proved. Despite these hiccups Naguib Sawiris retains his spot as Africa’s richest man.

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